AIP Italian pork and kale soup - Instant Pot, hearty, gut-supportive

Some nights you get home and there is exactly enough energy left to press a button. This soup is built for that night. Ground pork and bone broth go into the Instant Pot together, and in well under an hour you have dinner plus tomorrow's lunch, without a second trip to the stove. Moving an Autoimmune condition Toward Remission asks for months of steady effort, not one dramatic push, and having something real already made helps carry that.

Zinc rides along with the pork here. It has a real job: helping the immune system recalibrate, helping a strained gut lining close back up. Kale, stirred in at the very end, keeps its folate and its vitamin K instead of cooking them away. And the broth underneath, sharpened with a splash of apple cider vinegar to help pull minerals from the bones, does its own separate work.

Choose pork from a farm you trust when that is within reach. When it is ready, ladle the soup into a bowl, let the kale's green show bright against the broth, and actually sit for it. A few minutes off your feet changes how the meal lands, more than people expect.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size cubes (about 2 to 3 cups)
• 4 cups bone broth
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups kale, roughly chopped, stems removed
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, for garnish (optional)

Method

(Instant Pot)

Set the Instant Pot to Saute. Add the ground pork and cook, breaking it up, until it loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped onion and garlic and cook another 2 to 3 minutes, until the onion softens.

Stir in the oregano, thyme, marjoram, and salt so the herbs coat the meat.

Add the sweet potato cubes, bone broth, and apple cider vinegar. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pot so nothing is stuck, which prevents a burn warning.

Cancel Saute. Seal the lid and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before opening.

Stir in the chopped kale and let it wilt in the hot soup for 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt. Serve warm, topped with fresh thyme if you like.

Stovetop variation

Brown the pork in a large pot over medium heat, then add the onion and garlic and soften. Stir in the herbs and salt. Add the sweet potato, broth, and vinegar, bring to a simmer, then lower the heat, cover, and cook until the sweet potato is tender, about 25 to 30 minutes (time is a sensible estimate, flagged for kitchen testing). Stir in the kale at the end and let it wilt before serving.

*Adapted from gutsybynature*